Bristol Bulldog

[Gwyn]

I was wondering which model to do after finishing the Stephenson's Rocket when I found an old Profile magazine covering the Bristol Bulldog. 





I must have had this for a few years as it cost me 35pence.


Then I searched in my stash and found this.





Looking on the internet, this seems to have been produced about 1993.








well I thought I had given up on 1/72 as a scale, to small and fiddly for my fingers nowerdays, but after finding the Profile and the kit I thought well have a go and see how you get on. 


has anyone else made this? any tips?All help gratefully received.

[Guest]

A great choice - good luck with it. I've made one (using the Profile as reference), but it was in the 1980s, so I'm afraid I don't remember much about it. It's one of Airfix's better offerings for its period (early 70s I believe). One obvious challenge will be disguising the strut 'tie bar' in the top wing. I made a lot of 1/72 biplanes at the time, and always ended up putting the top wing on right at the end - complete with paint, decals, etc. - with just the rigging left to do afterwards. I will have glued the interplane struts to the top wing, then filled the bar in and sanded it down before painting.

[colin m]

Nice one Gwyn, one true scale as some like to call it. It will be nice to see this old kit come together.

[Gwyn]

A great choice - good luck with it. I've made one (using the Profile as reference), but it was in the 1980s, so I'm afraid I don't remember much about it. It's one of Airfix's better offerings for its period (early 70s I believe). One obvious challenge will be disguising the strut 'tie bar' in the top wing. I made a lot of 1/72 biplanes at the time, and always ended up putting the top wing on right at the end - complete with paint, decals, etc. - with just the rigging left to do afterwards. I will have glued the interplane struts to the top wing, then filled the bar in and sanded it down before painting.

Thanks Douglas I will keep that in mind when making it . 

[flyjoe180]

Hi Gwyn, the Bulldog is a nice looking biplane. I've got one waiting in the wings too. It's a kit that's been made a few times and displayed on this forum, if you try a search you might find some helpful tips from the older posts.

[Gwyn]

Hi Gwyn, the Bulldog is a nice looking biplane. I've got one waiting in the wings too. It's a kit that's been made a few times and displayed on this forum, if you try a search you might find some helpful tips from the older posts.

Good suggestion Joe I will do that.

[Gwyn]

Well I have made some progress.

a bit of paint on the inside of the body (sorry about the finger)

A bit of PE instrument panel.
[ATTACH]270856[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]270857[/ATTACH]
Here is the progress on the rotary engine
[ATTACH]270858[/ATTACH]
And here is my pilot.
I thought hard about trying a 1:72 plane because I thought my not very steady hands would not be able to manage. I have been pleased so far with the results even though after taking and looking at the macro photographs that I need to touch up a few things.

[papa 695]

Nice start Gwyn, the pilot looks good

[colin m]

The engine and prop look nice. Are they standard kit items ?

[Gwyn]

Nice start Gwyn, the pilot looks good

Thanks Ian, I appreciate your comments.

[Gwyn]

The engine and prop look nice. Are they standard kit items ?

Yes Colin standard parts that to me look a bit garish but hopefully will weather down. Thanks for your comments.

[Guest]

The detail painting looks great, Gwyn - especially when we remember the photos are about three times life size! The pilot is beautifully painted (and surprisingly well moulded considering its age).

[flyjoe180]

Nice work Gwyn, I'm watching your build progress.

[Gwyn]

Nice work Gwyn, I'm watching your build progress.

Thanks Joe.

[Gwyn]

Well after putting the pilot in and joining the two sides of the fuselage, I masked over the pilot just with some kitchen towel.
[ATTACH]271286[/ATTACH]
As can be seen there are quite bad join marks that would need sanding out. Well to make it easy to handle i decided to mount a piece of small dowel to the nose area, that is when disaster struck. As I was in too much of a hurry I accidently picked up the runny super glue and instead of putting a nice drop ready to attach the dowel I squirted runny super glue all over the plane. I have spent ages sanding off the glue before setting to work on the joint lines.
[ATTACH]271293[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]271294[/ATTACH]
So all smoothed and primed ready for the next step. Sorry about the shadow it's not my finger but the lens extended to macro mode. I will have get some independent lighting for closeup work.